February 08, 2012

A Santorum Sweep - Obama Giddy

DENVER, Colo. — Rick Santorum clobbered Mitt Romney in a head-to-head match-up in Missouri’s non-binding primary, easily won Minnesota’s caucuses and snagged a close victory in Colorado’s caucuses in a clean sweep Tuesday that once again rewrote the story of the Republican presidential nomination battle.

None of the three contests leads immediately to any delegates being awarded toward the nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., this summer, but Tuesday’s results suggest a strong pool of support for Mr. Santorum and highlight dangers going forward for Mr. Romney, who had by far his worst showing of the campaign.

At the start of the day Romney lead with 101 delegates to the Republican National Convention. He needs a total of 1,144 to capture the nomination. Newt Gringrich follows with 32, then Santorum with 17, and Paul with 9. Colorado, Minnesota, and Michigan will eventually send a total of 119 delegates that will be awarded later at state conventions.

At the last possible moment to save his reelection, the economy is beginning to hum, as evidenced by Friday’s jobs report. And Obama’s Republican opponents are shaping up to be as formidable as, well, marshmallows. While Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are making each other unelectable, the president is singing Al Green, congratulating Super Bowl winners, playing with science projects, raising obscene amounts of campaign cash and watching his poll numbers soar.

According to historical patterns, the high unemployment rate and slow economic growth should combine to doom Obama. But historical patterns do not take into account an opponent who says he enjoys firing people. This week’s Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Obama with a nine-point lead over Romney and a 15-point lead over Gingrich.

None of the four Republican candidates is dropping out of the race, and Mitt Romney still says that at the end of it all he expects to win the nomination. None of the four is the perfect candidate and the truth is, there aren't huge differences between them. That makes it pretty easy to support whoever wins the Republican nomination, but for my money Romney is the most electable and that's the most important thing. I think Santorum has just given Obama reason to be giddy, though.